Olympic golden girl Hannah Mills in line to be crowned world sailor of the year

Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (right) celebrate on the podium with their gold medals from the Women's 470 Race at Marina da Gloria on the thirteenth day of the Rio Olympic Games, Brazil (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.)

Welsh Olympic gold medallist Hannah Mills is among a trio of British stars who have been nominated as finalists for the prestigious Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards following their achievements at Rio 2016 this summer.

Mills and her partner Saskia Clark and fellow Team GB Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott have been chosen to compete for the highest form of recognition within sailing, awarded annually to one female and one male nominee since 1994.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday, November 8 in Barcelona. Past British winners include, Ben Ainslie, Shirley Robertson, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and 2015 World Sailor Sarah Ayton.

Mills and Clark just had to finish the Medal Race to upgrade their London 2012 silver to gold at Rio 2016 in the 470 women’s class.

A consistent opening series with scores all inside the top eight put them 20 points ahead of the London 2012 New Zealand champions.

The golden pair raced a pressure free Medal Race before sailing to Flamengo Beach for an emotional embrace with family and friends, a fairy-tale ending to their five year partnership.

Over the past four years, the pair have been serial medal contenders, winning back to back 2016 Sailing World Cups in Hyeres and Weymouth & Portland.

A silver medal at the 2015 World Championships is Haifa, Israel, and silvers at both the 2014 and 2015 Olympic test events in Rio.

Olympic champion and four-time world champion Scott had an almost flawless four year quadrennial in the build-up to Rio, winning gold at all but two of the events he competed in, and winning silver at the others, to confirm his nomination in the male category.

World Championship wins in 2014, 2015 and 2016 solidified his position as the favourite in Rio as well as in the history books as the second-most successful sailor in the Finn Gold Cup’s 60-year history.

After a shaky opening race at his first Olympic Games, Scott climbed his way back up the leader board to the top spot on day three, where he stayed for the remainder of the week winning gold ahead of the final Medal Race.

This is the fifth consecutive gold for a British sailor in the Finn class at the Olympic Games, with Scott continuing on the legacy started by Iain Percy at Sydney 2000 and continued by Ainslie at the three Games since.

Alongside Finn campaigning, Scott has also continued to lend his expertise to Ainslie’s British America’s Cup effort throughout the nomination period, with the team currently leading the America’s Cup World Series.